from the water, as the shells of the fresh-water clam are numerous, and were obtained from the Missouri River, which at that time probably flowed along the foot of the bluff, at their very door.
The stone for their implements seems to have been obtained in part from some ledges near here, and perhaps some of it from a distance, as the finer and more perfect of their tools were made from a kind not found here, except in the form of pebbles or drift bowlders, all the native stone being a carboniferous limestone, with the exception of a very coarse flint which is met with in some localities, and which was used for the larger tools, but which apparently was not suitable for smaller implements. Chalcedony seems to have been used by them to some extent, as were other kinds of stone of which the writer does not know the name. Some of these tools show superior skill, and have been apparently first chipped into shape and then ground to a perfectly smooth surface. This is the case with some hatchets which have been found, also of a globular stone which the writer has in his collection, and which was probably used as a sling shot or for a similar purpose.
Sketch No. 2 shows the location of a peculiar mound, which is situated on the summit of one of the highest of the range of bluffs which borders the Missouri River flood plain. It is near the northwest corner of the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter section 10, township 72 north, range 43 west of the fifth principal meridian, and is about 5½ miles south and 2 miles east from No. 1.
This bluff is nearly 300 feet above the lowlands, and overlooks the country for many miles in every direction. The mound in question was formed of the soil adjacent, and is at the present time about 8 feet in height above the original surface. The base of the mound is elliptical in form, being about 70 feet north and south, and 40 feet east and west. The earth from which this mound was made was apparently taken from a place 125 feet south, where a large depression exists, about 35 feet square, and at present 5 feet deep. There is the stump of a burr-oak tree 16 inches in diameter standing near the northwest corner of the pit, on the edge of the slope of the bank; also another burr-oak stump 14 inches in diameter near the southeast corner, which is also on the bank, but at the edge of the excavation. This mound was partially opened some twenty-five years ago, but without yielding anything of consequence. My note-book shows the following entry: "Opened mound with S. B. Proudfit, November 25, 1879, and dug a hole 6 feet long and 4 feet wide. At 7 feet from the surface came to a layer of ashes about one-half an inch thick, and below this a layer of stones. These stones were from 2 to 11 inches thick and would probably weigh from 20 to 30 pounds. They were evidently placed on what was the original surface of the ground, and the ashes and earth placed above them. The stones were probably brought from the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. About 4 miles directly west the characteristic fossils in the stones indicate this. There did not seem to have been any
